REVIEW – It is finally getting cold here in South Texas. By cold, I mean highs in the 40s. I know that is not cold to some of you, but after over 30 days of 100-degree heat, 40 seems pretty darn cold to me! I hate the cold and would rather have a 100-degree day over 40 degrees any day. That means I always look for something to keep me warm and toasty when I go outside. I wear a heated jacket liner with sleeves on my motorcycle under my armored jacket. It has to connect to my battery on the motorcycle to work, and it does not offer any extra lining outside the heat to keep me warm. Venustas has been selling 7.4V portable battery-powered heated coats and vests for a few years, and they have come up with a new version of their heated vest for women. Let’s see if it can keep me from complaining when it is cold outside.
What is it?
The Venustas 2022 Women’s Heated Down Vest with Heating Pockets is a vest of 90% duck down and 10% duck feather. It uses a plaid sewing technique to keep it from clumping. It has heated areas at the back, chest, and pocket areas. It can be washed and is resistant to stretching.
What’s in the box?
- The jacket, manual, and box containing the battery all came packed in a reusable zippered travel bag on the left side of the picture.
Inside the box, there was:
- One 7.4V battery pack
- Charging cable
- power adapter
- manual for the power pack
Design and features
The Venustas 2022 Women’s Heated Down Vest with Heating Pockets is made of a nice, lightweight, soft material. It is water-resistant. I did test that out by wearing it outside in light rain. The water did bead off of it. I ordered the women’s XL because that is what I seemed to need by looking at their sizing charts. I normally wear an XL in women’s shirts.
The vest has a nice high collar. There is a zipper with a nice tag to grab to zip up the vest. It only comes in black. The power button is on the left part of the chest. It has a LED light ring around the outer edge of a rubber push button. The Venustas logo is below it in white stitching.
This picture is a closeup of one of the two pockets on the front of the jacket. You can see how silky the material is and the pleating of the down with the stitching.
The inside of the pocket is lined with what looks and feels like fleece. Once that battery starts heating the area behind the pockets, it is a joy to tuck your hands in them and enjoy the soft and cozy warmth.
The inside of the Venustas vest is made with soft water-resistant type material. The picture above shows the patch in the upper middle of the back that has the heating elements.
This is a picture of the inner right side of the jacket. Two sections are heated. There is an upper section in the chest area and another directly behind the pocket. You can see the wires behind the liner in this picture. They are very thin, and I don’t notice them when wearing the vest.
On one side of the battery pack, you can find three ports. The top round port is the port used by the cable on the vest. Then a USB-C port is used to charge the vest via the power adapter. Finally, they provide an additional USB port that can be used to top off your phone or any other device like you would a backup battery. That is a nice feature to have, but I want all the power to keep me warm and toasty!
Another side of the battery pack has a button you can press to get the battery to display the amount of power available left in the battery.
Pressing that button showed me 69% left on the battery when I first received it. The LED display is on the opposite side of the battery from the button.
Setup
I plugged the battery into the power cable via the USB-C port and charged it immediately. I knew the charging was finished when the LED display on the battery showed 100%.
Once the battery was fully charged. I plugged it into the charging cord in a pocket on the left inside of the vest.
Performance
To power on the Venustas Women’s Heated Down Vest, you press and hold the rubber power button on the top left chest area. It will start to pulse red as the jacket heats up. That does take a couple of minutes. Once it is fully heated it will stay a solid red color.
You can then quickly press the button one time and go to the medium heat setting. The LED button will display white.
A second click will put the jacket into the lowest heat setting and turn the LED ring blue. Sitting down in a chair with a back so that the back of the jacket was pressed into my back made the highest heat setting too warm for me to bear for very long. I had a light long-sleeved shirt with a fleece top over it under the jacket. Standing in temperatures of about 40 degrees with a light breeze, I liked the high setting. I think, though, if I had ordered a large instead of an extra-large, the high setting would have been too warm for the air temperature I was in. I find with heated gear, you want the heated areas to be close to your body. Having an air gap will let some of the heat escape. I found that if I put a coat on top of the vest, the high heat setting got warm quickly, and I turned it down to cool myself off. On the other days that I wore the vest, there was no wind, and the temperatures were around 45 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit. I could keep the vest at the low or medium setting and be very comfortable. Being able to put my hands in those toasty pockets was a blessing. Wandering around Market Days in Boerne, TX, I was surprised that I only needed the vest to be comfortable. Keeping my core warm made the rest of me feel comfortable in the cold.
What I like
- The battery would last at least 6 hours or more in the low setting.
- The vest is washable.
- It is very soft and comfortable.
- You can use the battery to charge other devices like your phone.
- The pockets get nice and toasty!
- One-year warranty on the battery and a 2-year warranty on the vest.
What I’d change
- I would order a women’s large instead of an XL.
- It would be nice if the vest came in other colors.
Final thoughts
The Venustas heated vest has become my new winter companion whenever I go outside for an extended period. The battery lasts a long time, and it really keeps me warm. I think it is well made, and the fact that it is washable is a huge plus for me. If anyone is going to get it dirty, I will. If you are looking for a heated vest, I highly recommend the Venustas 2022 Women’s heated vest.
Price: $179.99
Where to buy: Venustas
Source: The sample of this product was provided by Venustas.
